quote:
Originally posted by 11jono11
Hello, this is my first new post on here (be gentle). . . . . (I'm sure you will),
I have been looking into doing Kriya Yoga/deepening my practice for a short while now. I meditate twice each day 30 mins at a time (recently started working with the ujjayi breath), sometimes more, just focusing on the breath, I get occasional bouts of no thought and feel generally calmer, but would like some more AYP . I stumbled accross Yogirj Gurunath Siddhanath through a friend showing me various things on youtube and was quite drawn to him, I was then told that he was coming to the UK and that I could be initiated by him (including learning the Kriya techniques etc). It really is true, "When the student is ready the teacher will appear." I feel I am ready and along comes this opportunity. Well I am booked for the retreat and have been really looking forward to it, but then came across this entry below about Gurunath from here http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?topic=2808
"Just so you know.... The man you are talking about was a self-realization fellowship student... he learned kriya yoga through their lessons like most other people... I don't believe his story's of meeting with Babaji in the least... Don't waste your money.. If you want to learn kriya yoga, goto www.kriyayogainfo.net They have a free downloadable book which covers EVERY technique of kriya yoga with much better explanation of it than what gurunath can... Also by the way this guy claims to be part of the Nath sect in India, but the nath have never even heard of him.."
I never even questioned his legitimacy but while watching some videos declaring Sai Baba as a charlatan and worse (which I think is quite clear, I could be wrong), I started doing a little bit of research. I cannot find any info to back up these claims made by Thokar, in fact a fair few people I contacted about Yogiraj are ex SRF + Babajis Kriya yoga members themselves (some very experienced) and say they prefer his teachings and exalt Sri Gurunath. I have been a bit shaken by this, I don't know exactly what I am asking from you all, maybe a "No this claim is wrong" or "It doesn't matter" I don't know or maybe just some advice to increase my faith. Faith is important but gullibility and blind faith are both dangerous so I am trying to be discerning. My heart + soul was so excited, and maybe now my ego is just getting in the way, after all there is a multitude of praise from a multitude of different sources regarding Sri Gurunath and I am stupidly focusing on this tiny bit of slander. Yogini in this top post is right, I shouldn't expect anything and if it wasn't for the money (which means nothing I suppose) I'd just go and check him/it out and make up my mind. Sorry for the long winded question.
Thank you in advance for your answers and support.
God bless everyone
Hi 11Jono11,
Welcome to the AYP Forum!
I, too, am a bit biased.
I'm also a Kriyaban who was initiated via Ananda (offshoot of SRF), who switched to AYP after a couple of years of Kriya practice.
I got (far) more benefit in a few months of AYP than a couple of years of Kriya ... and the pace never slowed down after that, either.
(You may have heard the phrase "under-promise and over-deliver"; in my experience, Yogani and AYP do exactly that, for what it's worth.)
And I'm not saying this in an "our way is better" sense; I've got nothing at all against Kriya Yoga; I just feel and have experienced, that AYP has hit on a couple of key nuances (the combination of Pranayama/Kriyas and Deep Meditation, combined with Self-Pacing) not formally taught in Kriya Yoga, that make a *massive* difference in results, and consistency of results (again, all said "just FYI".
)
Regarding Yogiraj Gurunath Siddhanath (and any guru, and/or any person) ... I've never, ever found that going by the derogatory statements about someone {again, anyone} is helpful in getting an accurate view of that person. This is for several reasons, including:
*The people saying negative things obviously have a reason for publicly saying negative things, and in my experience, this has always included some kind of "agenda" with respect to making negative statements. Basically: only an ego makes negative statements, and an ego cannot discern truth from falsehood; best to look elsewhere for "reviews" of anyone, I'd say.
*Every group or teacher seems to attract a small, very vocal minority who end up making a lot of negative noise about that group or teacher, at some point. This tells you a lot about the psychology of the negative noise-makers; it doesn't tell you anything about the group or teacher.
*People simply have different opinions and responses to given groups or teachers. If you spend a bit of time with Yogiraj and/or his material, you may feel like he's a charlatan, or a waste of time, or a good teacher, or your guru, or something else entirely.
Intuition is a great guide, here: ultimately, as Yogani writes "the guru is in you". This is a true statement. One of the most-true statements possible via these word things we often use to communicate.
Any external guru is a reflection of the internal guru; that's not to say they can't be helpful, but they're an interim step; any true guru will be the first to tell you that, too.
And so, if you feel an authentic draw to Yogiraj .... check him out, see what you feel.
Having said that: my personal experience (for what it's worth) is that I do feel a bit "underwhelmed" by him. I don't know about his SRF experience ... but just because he "studied the lessons like everyone else" doesn't mean he's not fully enlightened (it also doesn't mean he is; it doesn't mean anything, other than he "studied the lessons".
).
But again .... that doesn't mean you'll feel underwhelmed.
And I do happen to agree with Thokar (I guess it was, per your post) that the info at Kriyayogainfo.net is very, very good.
I personally find the AYP info even better, as mentioned above .... but as Kriya Yoga info goes, I have yet to find a site as good as Kriyayogainfo.net.
Based on everything you've written, I'd say:
Just stay open.
Check out Yogiraj. Check out Kriyayogainfo.net; check out AYP; go with your intuition .... you really don't have to "pick a guru", and despite what many people say, you can deepen your practice just fine without settling on a single guru.
And, if you're booked for the retreat with Yogiraj, and feel drawn to it ... I'd say "go for it". I received several instances of shaktipat/initiation from several gurus over time, and they were all helpful in some way (and I never settled on a single seemingly-external
guru, either).
Ultimately, the great secret to full realization is this:
It's what YOU do, that matters.
It's your bhakti (devotion), your intuition; your willingness, your sincerity; your perseverance ..... that gets you Home.
Everything else is just a resource, a support, a tool, a map.
And nearly everyone has a bit of a "custom mix" as far as what their own path "looks like".
Willingness is the one essential key, and you've obviously got that .... and the rest of it is all downhill ........ even the parts that feel the exact opposite of downhill.
Enlightenment is really kind of impossible to miss.
It's only everywhere.
I hope this is helpful.
Wholeheartedly,
Kirtanman